Controversy surrounding supply of crude oil to Dangote Refinery has finally been resolved. The company located in the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos can begin refining petrol.
The President of Dangote Refinery, Aliko Dangote yesterday told journalists in Lagos that the refinery is now set to roll out its petrol from next month having resolved its crude oil supply issues through the help of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Federal Government.
Recently the Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) raised an alarm saying there were attempts by International Oil Companies (IOCs) to frustrate efforts to supply crude oil to its refinery.
Vice President, Oil and Gas DIL, Devakumar Edwin who took journalists on a guided tour of the refinery said, “While the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) are trying their best to allocate the crude for us, the IOCs are deliberately and willfully frustrating our efforts to buy the local crude.
“It seems that the objective is to ensure that our Petroleum Refinery fails. It is either they are deliberately asking for ridiculous/humongous premium or they simply state that crude is not available.
“At some point, we paid $6 over and above the market price. This has forced us to reduce our output as well as import crude from countries as far as the US, increasing our cost of production.”
Before the resolution of the problem, the $20bn Dangote Petroleum Refinery was ramping up the importation of crude from the United States.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, NUPRC stated that oil producers under the umbrella of the Oil Producers Trade Section of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, at a meeting called by NUPRC, agreed to concede to a framework that would be mutually beneficial with the aim of ensuring that local refineries are not strangulated due to off-the-curve prices.
“The focus of the meeting held at the instance of the Commission Chief Executive, Gbenga Komolafe, was on the status review of the Framework for Seamless Operationalisation of Domestic Crude Oil Supply Obligation Template.
“It was part of efforts to effectively implement key sections of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, especially the issue of pricing and crude supply to the domestic refineries,” the commission stated.
Also, Dangote revealed that NNPCL no longer owns a 20 percent stake in the refinery.
In his words, “NNPCL no longer owns a 20 percent stake in the Dangote Refinery. They were met to pay their balance in June but have yet to fulfill the obligations. Now, they only own a 7.2 percent stake in the refinery.”
Daily Asset
